Fiftyfaces Focus Medicine and Science: Recent Episodes
Fiftyfaces Focus Medicine and Science
A podcast focused on profiling inspiring people in the fields of medicine and science. You can't be what you can't see.
Kate Baur recently started her surgical residency in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has a particular interest in colo-rectal surgery, in particular as anal cancer is a cancer that has a higher incidence in populations such as the LGBTQ+ population. Since recording her podcast she has not only started her surgical residency but has got married.
Our conversation starts with Kate’s upbringing which saw her live around the world in communities in Korea, India and China and what this taught her about different cultures as well as some of the grave inequities in services, particularly medicine. We trace her path to medical school and her interest in surgery, and reflect on the presence of role models within medicine among women and gay women in particular and find that there are very few. We speak then about the importance of medicine embracing the different needs of the LGBTQ+ community and how little of the curriculum addresses this.
Kate is passionate about advocating for the relatively “invisible” LGBTQ+ community when it comes to medicine and this is what drew her to colorectal surgery in particular. We compare the approach to screening for anal cancer to screening for cervical cancer and find that the principles are the same but, again, the advocacy is lacking. There is more information about the “Anchor Study” which is investigating screening and treatment for anal cancer in patients who are HIV+ on the following link. https://anchorstudy.org/
Kate mentions GLMA which is an organization of health professionals advancing LGBTQ equality (https://www.glma.org/) as a prominent affinity group that is raising awareness.
Miss (Dr.) Samantha Tross is a consultant orthopaedic hip and knee surgeon, and she was the first black female orthopaedic surgeon in the UK. She is Associate Professor of Orthopaedics at the American University of the Caribbean, a role she has held since 2010, and is Associate Editor of the Journal of Medical Case Reports. She's a member of the Board of Trustees of the British Association of Black surgeons, and the Secretary of the International Othopaedic Diversity Alliance, which was set up to increase diversity within orthopaedics. She's been a member of the Black Power List 100 since 2010.
Our sweeping conversation starts in the Caribbean, and her upbringing in Guyana, and the early seeds that were sown for her to become a surgeon. We follow her educational path through boarding school and medical school in the UK and discuss the diversity within her medical school class, which was very minimal. We trace then her path to become a surgeon and why she enjoys the field of orthopedics. We discuss how patients in this area are generally well other than the reason for the operation, the ready availability of feedback on the operation and the ability for these interventions to have massive impacts on the patients' quality of life.
We move then to issues of diversity and first Miss Tross's own experience throughout her training. We discuss how the issue of race is perhaps one of the last issues to be addressed within medicine in terms of taking steps towards better inclusion, and also address team dynamics and how to handle bullying within workplace settings.
Finally we look at the importance of self-belief, having a plan and remaining true to oneself and one's ambitions. This is an empowering discussion that hopefully will pave the way for many more such discussions.
Dr Brian Dooreck is a Board Certified Gastroenterologist with a particular focus on private healthcare advocacy, life balance, and gut health. We met on Linked In when I became aware of his frequent health tips and his work within the private wealth community to promote ways to optimally navigate healthcare. He lives in Florida.
Our conversation starts with what led Dr. Dooreck to pursue a career in medicine and how gastroenterology appealed to him because he found it intuitive and understandable. He also found it relatable and noted how all of us relate to it.
We move to talking about advance in that area, and what excites him most - in particular the screening tools that enable him to detect pre-cancerous growth in the colon, as well as the importance of taking a holistic approach to gut health. We talk about fads in this area, what really works, and the importance of balance in one's daily diet.
We turn then to another one of Dr. Dooreck's passions, which is helping people to navigate the healthcare system, and he noted how "broken" the healthcare system is and how people underestimate the importance of navigating it properly. He also observed that patients themselves can greatly improve their access and experience of the healthcare system by learning how to properly advocate for themselves, by capturing their own health history, being responsible for logging it and communicating it and how important this can be in terms of getting the right care when it matters.
Finally we look back at what have been the most significant highs and lows in Dr. Dooreck's career so far.
In this inaugural Fiftyfaces Focus Medicine and Science podcast series we dive into disciplines that are rich and multi-layered, hold the power to transform lives and outcomes but also suffer from underrepresentation, neglect and bias.
We first ask our diverse range of guests what it was that drew them to medicine or science, and find out what role "problem solving" plays. We examine what sacrifices were made in the determination to follow a dream and what it takes to succeed as a practitioner as well as a patient. The role of EQ, curiosity, self-advocacy and drive is noted.
We look at a variety of specialties from psychiatry, to gastroenterology, to orthopedic surgery, cardiology and colo-rectal surgery and ask what advances excite the experts most. We look at gut health, mental health, the increased holistic nature of medicine and where it is broken, and compare geographic areas.
We hear about pioneering drug trials from Shalom Lloyd, whose firm eMQT addresses the massive disparity in drug trials on populations in Africa, and why this presents an opportunity for data gathering and learning.
We hear about underrepresentation in medicine - from black medical students and practitioners, to LGBT professionals to women, and ask what can be done to resolve this. There is a bias in how medical images are presented and Chidiebere Ibe, a renowned medical illustrator from Nigeria, shares how he bucked the trend here and produced an image of a black fetus in utero which subsequently went viral.
Our Guests in Series 1 are:
Dr. Yele Aluko, who is Chief Medical Officer at EY, a role he has held for close to 4 years. He is Co-Chair, Health Equity Advisory, at the international Well Building Institute, an Advisory Board Member at the Children’s National Hospital and a Board Member at the Wake Forest University School of Business. He has worked as a Cardiologist in hospital settings for over 30 years.
Dr. Kate Baur, who is a surgical resident in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has a particular interest in colo-rectal surgery, in particular as anal cancer is a cancer that has a higher incidence in populations such as the LGBTQ+ population.
Dr. Alan Carver (interviewed by Maeve McQuillan), who is a neurologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City. He has a particular interest in neurological complications of cancer and Its treatment; headache and pain medicine, end-of-life care and general neurology.
Professor Brian Devitt, who is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Professor of Orthopaedics and Surgical Biomechanics at Dublin City University. He studied medicine at University College Dublin and is a specialist in orthopedic sports medicine. He is also my brother and given that he has spent that last 8 years in Melbourne, Australia and we have only seen eachother a handful of times in this period, I was excited to sit down with him and touch base on his medical career and outlook.
Dr. Patrick Devitt, my father and co-host of the first series of Inspiring People in the Law. He is a consultant psychiatrist in in Dublin, Ireland, and formerly spent time as Mental Health Inspector. His area of specialty is Community psychiatry and Medico-legal psychiatry. He also has degrees in law and science.
Dr. Brian Dooreck, who is a Board Certified Gastroenterologist with a particular focus on private healthcare advocacy, life balance, and gut health. We met on Linked In when I became aware of his frequent health tips and his work within the private wealth community to promote ways to optimally navigate healthcare.
Chidiebere Ibe, who is a medical student and Forbes-Featured medical illustrator whose illustration of a black fetus in utero went viral in December 2021. Many commentators said that this was the first time that they had seen a depiction of a dark-skinned fetus or pregnant woman and provoked a discussion about the lack of representation of such images in textbooks and journals. Chidiebere has a bachelors degree in chemistry from the University of Uyo in Nigeria, and is the Chief Medical Illustrator at the Journal of Global Neurosurgery. He holds numerous roles on various committees relating to medical education.
Shalom Lloyd, who after a career of over 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry has gone on to found two businesses - she is the founder of Naturally Tribal skincare, a beauty line based on traditional remedies including shea butter, which she developed initially to cure her son’s eczema. She is also the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of eMQT, described as “the Bridge between the Pharmaceutical Industry and Africa” which facilitates clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies in Africa. She has been a keynote speaker on the topic of innovation and was a fellow of the Start-Up Leadership Program in London until 2020.
Miss (Dr.) Samantha Tross who is a consultant orthopaedic hip and knee surgeon, and she was the first Black female orthopaedic surgeon in the UK. She is associate professor of orthopaedics at the American University of the Caribbean, a role she has held since 2010, and is Associate Editor of the Journal of Medical Case Reports. She is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the British Association of Black Surgeons, and the Secretary of the International Orthopaedic Diversity Alliance, which was set up to increase diversity within Orthopaedics. She has been a member of the Black Powerlist 100 since 2010.